Beginnings
by morph
Summary: Every story, every partnership, has to begin somewhere. Features a young 1st Doctor on Gallifery. TARDIS POV. Part of my TARDIS 100 series. Oneshot.


AN/ I wrote this fic last year in a boring class at University. I decided to dust it off and post it. It's my first ever Doctor Who fic that doesn't take place in the New Who era. This is a very young 1st Doctor fic set on Gallifery. Written in the TARDIS' POV. Part of my TARDIS 100 series. The BBC owns everything; I just like to play with it.

* * *

I was done for. I knew it. I was old. I was outdated. Newer, better, faster and more reliable models had been developed. I could hear and feel them, my younger sisters. They were all brand new, all excited to go out and travel through time and space with their new Time Lords.

It made me feel bitter. My old owner had left me to retire. He was at the end of his lives. I missed him a little, but I had never felt any really deep bond with him. He had used me as a machine and a vehicle, nothing more. I thought it was unfair. I had _so_ much more life to give to the universe! This couldn't be my end. I hoped that maybe... just maybe... someone new would come along and decide I was worth saving, but I must admit that hope was slim. I was probably going to be trapped on this planet forever.

Some of the new Time Lords, fresh and bright-eyed, were taking a tour of the facility where myself and the other TARDISes were kept. On one side were all the shiny new models. I was alone, off to the other side. I knew from sensing the minds around me that the only reason I was there was to provide a comparison between the new models and the old.

An ancient professor unlocked my doors and led a group of eight students inside. They were a little older, more or less at the end of their schooling at the Academy. They had their whole lives ahead of them.

"This is an old Type 40 TARDIS," the teacher explained. "This particular model has a habit of making small telepathic links with those who step through its doors, so if you feel it in your mind, ignore it."

I was starved for attention, but most of the students did just what their superior told them. I felt many of their minds close up; throwing up the mental blockers they had obviously been practicing.

Only two boys kept their minds open. They were at the back of the class. These two were friends, fellow trouble-makers in their classes, but they had recently had an argument and were still a bit angry with each other. They had the names they had chosen for themselves, their nicknames for each other, and the names they had been born with. One of them wanted the others to call him the Master. His professors and peers were very reluctant to do this, seeing as he wasn't a master of anything yet. I could already see a dark, determined seed deep inside him. He had talent, he had potential. He wanted to prove them all wrong. He became irritated with me probing into his mind and shut me out.

The other boy was much friendlier. He was the only one who actually extended his own mind out to meet mine and to greet me. He was starting to call himself the Doctor. His wanderlust was insatiable. I liked him instantly.

"_Hello."_ He smiled up at my Time Rotor as the professor rattled on about my outdated design requiring at least six trained professionals to fly me properly.

"_Hello... why do you call yourself 'the Doctor'?"_

"_Because I want to help people. I want to travel between the stars and through the Vortex, run, and visit different worlds."_ He shifted his feet. _"I'm no good staying on this planet. I need adventure."_

My heart sang at the idea. Running away, escaping Gallifery, and going on adventures. So long as he kept me maintained, it sounded like a good life. Anything better than the one I had now.

"_That sounds good... but interfering with other worlds isn't allowed, you know."_

The Doctor just shrugged a smile on his lips. Seems that when it came to things that were not allowed, he was more than willing to bend the rules.

His attentions shifted suddenly back to what the professor was saying.

"However," the old Time Lord drolled on, "despite this model's tie-in with the Eye of Harmony, it is due to be officially decommissioned tomorrow. It will be deconstructed for scrap and parts."

My heart went cold at those words. I had known that I was probably on death row, but to hear what they were going to do to me, and so soon... it made me very afraid. Couldn't they tell that although my body was old, I still had too much life inside me to waste?

I didn't say anything, but the Doctor easily picked up on my fear. "Excuse me, but why is this TARDIS going to be taken apart?"

The professor looked down his nose at him. "This model is now inferior. The machine's systems are falling apart. There is no need to keep it around."

"But... she's scared, and she's done nothing wrong, other than aging a bit. If you fix her up, she could fly again. She doesn't want to die. Can't you hear her?"

"The thoughts of an old machine do not matter." The old man paused, ignoring my faint rumble of anger. "Why do _you_ care anyway?"

The Doctor put a hand on the rim of my controls. I liked how he touched me. "I think I like this TARDIS. I want to keep her."

"That will be impossible." The teacher's patience with the young, rebellious Time Lord was growing short.

The Master elbowed the Doctor's ribs. "Didn't you fail your flying test?"

The other students snickered. The Doctor looked a bit embarrassed and shrugged. "If you have a good TARDIS, that doesn't really matter." He gazed up at my Time Rotor. I kept my mind tethered to his like a life line.

The professor soon ushered the students out to look at the other TARDISes. The Doctor was the last one out. He lingered, looking around my large control room from the doorway. I didn't want him to go. He was the first kind, honest and friendly mind I had been able to contact in a long time, and he could very well be the last.

"_Please help me, Doctor..." _I was dead without him.

He weighted up his choices. His chances of being able to get away and do what he wanted to do in the universe were slim, but with me he had a greater chance of escape. All he wanted to do was run and run and never stop. I did too. Of course I needed to escape. I was not ready to give up my dance in the Time Vortex. We realised that we were kindred spirits. We needed each other.

"_I promise I'll be back for you. I won't let them destroy you, Old Girl."_

With that, he was gone, leaving me with the hope that he would keep his promise.

***

Many Galliferanian hours passed. Everyone had retired to their quarters and the building was dark and quiet. I sat there, waiting, worried that the Doctor would not come. I stretched out my external sensors, straining, trying to reach his mind... success! I was relieved and delighted when I felt a key in my lock. He had come!

I burst into song when he stepped though my doors. He grinned and hushed me, not wanting anyone to hear. I saw in his mind the story of his evening leading up to this. He talked with the Master again, but his friend hadn't wanted to run with him. The Doctor stuffed a few small belongings into his pockets, stole the key to my lock and fled into the night. He had come right to my side without a single hesitation.

He set about working my controls, finding out which ones still worked. I helped him, whispering in his mind, giving him hints and clues. He was very glad to find out that I could indeed still fly. "Inferior model" indeed. I would only be inferior when my usefulness had run its course, and that didn't look like it was going to happen any time soon now that I had my Doctor. We were both so excited, positively buzzing. Our futures stretched out before us. All of time and space was waiting.

My old engines ground and whooshed to life. In seconds we were gone.

That was just the beginning. The rest, as the legends say, are history.


End file.
